Pictures of You
by littlepunkin
Summary: What happens when Reba and Brock look through old photo albums? Will old feelings rekindle between the two of them or will Reba's pride get in the way of her true feelings? *Formerly titled "Nothing More"* 10th (FINAL) CHAPTER UP!
1. Chapter 1

"Mom, I'm home!" Jake greeted his mom as he came in the back door.

"Hi, honey, how was school?" Reba asked her son.

"It was good. We got a really cool assignment in our English class today."

"An cool assignment, huh? I don't remember the last time you came home from school with an assignment you were excited about," Reba joked.

"Yeah well this one doesn't really relate to school."

Reba rolled her eyes at Jake and nodded. "Alright, well what is it?"

"We're doing a family tree project. We have to do research about our family members. You know, find pictures, do interviews, and write an essay about it."

"That sounds really interesting Jake!" Reba was happy that he was actually looking forward to doing this assignment.

"Yeah," Jake replied. "The first part of the assignment is due tomorrow. We have to bring at least five pictures in of our immediate family. I have a bunch of pictures in my room, but do you think you could find a picture of you and Dad?"

"A picture of your Dad and I? Together?" Reba asked.

"Yes, together," Jake rolled his eyes at his mom. "Obviously I'll mention in the essay that you're divorced but I really want at least one picture of you guys together."

"Sure, Jake. I'll find one for ya."

"Thanks Mom," Jake smiled as he ran upstairs to find pictures.

Reba wasn't too thrilled about this little project she got herself into. Looking through old photo albums filled with pictures of her and Brock wasn't exactly her idea of fun.

_Oh well, I told Jake I'd do this for him_, she thought.

She went over by the dining room table to the shelf where all the albums were. She chose one from the year 1983, the year she and Brock had gotten married. She sat on the step behind the couch and began looking through the photo album. The first few pages were filled with pictures taken at their wedding.

Reba thought of the humor of picking a wedding picture, but decided against it. _Too ironic, _she thought.

She turned the page and surprisingly found herself reminiscing. The pictures that caught her eye were taken during their vacation in Hawaii later the same year. She smiled as she saw Brock asleep in a chair under a tree, a beer by his side.

_This is the trip I found out I was pregnant with Cheyenne, _Reba thought. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't hear none other than Brock come in the back door. He walked into the living room and noticed Reba sitting on the step.

"Hey Reba."

Her head snapped up and she jumped a mile. "Brock! My god, you scared me!" She laughed a little realizing how into the pictures she was.

"Sorry," Brock said, smiling. "What are you looking at?"

"Well Jake has a family tree project for school and he asked me to find a picture of the two of us he can use," she explained.

"Oh," Brock nodded. "You mind if I look with you?"

"You really don't have anything better to do?" Reba asked, giving him a look.

"Well I was gonna see if Jake wanted to hang out, but I wouldn't mind a little blast from the past," Brock said. "Unless you want me to leave," he added, trying to make Reba feel bad.

"No, it's fine. I don't mind," she replied, sighing.

Brock took a seat next to her on the step and immediately started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Look at your hair!" He said, trying to hold back his laugh. "You look like a red poodle!"

"You have the nerve to make fun of _my _hair?!" Reba shot back. "Ladies and gentlemen, the mullet lives on!" she announced, referring to Brock's "business in the front, party in the back" hairdo.

"Oh come on, it was the 80s! Mullets were in their prime!" Brock argued.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night Brock," Reba replied, laughing. She turned the page and they both reached for the same picture, but Reba moved her hand when Brock's hand was slightly covering hers.

"I think you should give this one to Jake to use," Brock said. He pulled it out of the sleeve and handed it to Reba. It was a beautiful picture of them. They were at a fancy restaurant and they had gotten their waiter to take the picture. Reba was wearing a black dress and Brock was wearing a suit. They were sitting at the table and each had a glass of wine in front of them.

"You do remember why we went out that night, right?" Reba asked Brock quietly.

"Of course I do," he answered. "You had just told me we were having a baby."

Reba looked at the picture again and nodded.

"That was one of the happiest days of my life," Brock added in almost a whisper. He looked over at Reba who was still looking at the picture. She took her eyes off of it and stared into his piercing blue eyes.

"You know," she started, breaking the trance, "I actually have a few errands to run, but you can stay and hang out with Jake if you want."

"Yeah, OK, I will," Brock said.

Reba quickly walked into the kitchen, put the picture on the table, grabbed her purse and left. Brock decided to stay for a while, but he wasn't hanging out with Jake. He spent the next half hour looking at the rest of the pictures in the album. He felt a little upset that Reba had kept all the old pictures of them and Brock was left with nothing. He went back to the page that had the picture they had chosen. There was another picture on the same page that was almost identical to it, and it was a double. All Brock wanted was to look at a picture and be able to reminisce about some of the times he and Reba shared. _No one will miss this picture, _he thought as he took it out of the sleeve, put it in his back pocket, returned the album to the shelf, and left.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Okay, so I haven't been on this website in 3 years! I just started getting back into the show again when ABC family started playing it in the afternoon. I thought about this story I had started a long time ago and decided to continue it. I hope you all like it :) reviews are always welcome and appreciated!

"Barbra Jean, I'm home," Brock said as he came in through the back door.

"Hi honey," Barbra Jean replied with a smile as she entered the kitchen with a laundry basket in her arms. "I'm about to do a load of laundry so if you want anything washed just bring it on down, okay?" She said as she went into the laundry room off the kitchen.

"Alright, I will," Brock said. He went upstairs to change and brought down the jeans and t-shirt he was wearing. He handed them to Barbra Jean, kissed her on the cheek, and went into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich.

Barbra Jean was about to throw his jeans in the washing machine when something caught her eye. Something had fallen out of one of the pockets. She reached down and picked up a picture of Brock and Reba from way back when. A puzzled look came across her face as she walked into the kitchen.

"Brock, this picture was in the back pocket of your jeans," she said to her husband.

Brock felt his heart drop to his stomach. _Crap, _he thought. _The picture I swiped from Reba's. How am I going to explain that?_

"Why did you have this photo on you?" Barbra Jean asked.

"Uh, well, I was over at Reba's and, um…"

Just then the back door opened and none other than Reba entered the room.

"Reba!" Brock said as he breathed a sign of relief. _Maybe this will buy me some time to think of an excuse, _he thought.

"Hey," Reba said, and then she caught a glimpse of the picture Barbra Jean was holding. She pointed to it and opened her mouth to say something when Barbra Jean interjected.

"Reba, Brock had this photo of you two in his pocket when he came home just now. Any idea why?" She asked, obviously getting annoyed that she hadn't gotten an answer yet.

Reba glared at Brock for a few seconds before answering. She remembered seeing the photo that they selected on the counter, right where she left it. _That mo-ron must have_ _taken another one from the album, _she thought. "It's my fault," she said, directing her attention back to Barbra Jean.

"What?" Brock and Barbra Jean asked in unison.

"Yeah, you know how Brock came over earlier, and Jake's doing a school project where he needs to find pictures of family and write a report and everything. Well, he wanted a picture of Brock and I from when we were married and we found one. So I gave it to Brock and told him to give it to Jake because I had errands to run."

"Right," Brock said slowly, playing along. "And then after Reba left, my phone rang and it was the office and I had to take the call, so I must have put the picture in my pocket and completely forgot to give it to Jake."

Barbra Jean looked back and forth from Brock to Reba. "Okay," she said somewhat skeptically, but seemed to believe the story. She handed the photo back to Reba.

"Thanks," Reba replied. "So is Kyra around? That's the reason I came by. I haven't seen her in a couple days."

"She's at band practice and should be home in about an hour," Barbra Jean said.

"Alright, will you send her my way when she gets back?" Reba asked, getting up to leave.

"Sure thing," Barbra Jean said with a smile.

"Thanks," Reba replied, and left.

* * *

Reba had just finished cleaning up after dinner when none other than Brock came in the back door.

"Hey Reba," he said. "Look, I wanna thank you for saving me back at the house."

Reba looked at him for a moment before speaking. "Why did you take that photo from my album, Brock?"

Brock looked down at the floor before answering. "I don't know, I just really enjoyed looking at those pictures with you earlier and reminiscing about all the good times we had. After the divorce, I didn't even think to take any pictures with me. The only ones I really have are the kids' school pictures and Van and Cheyenne's wedding pictures. I guess I was upset that you had all the old pictures of us and I just wanted one to look at every now and again to remind me of the good times we had."

"Well excuse me if I assumed that after you left me for Barbra Jean that you had no interest in any photos or memories of good times that we had!" Reba shot back.

"Hey, take it easy!" Brock said defensively. "Why would you think that I just want to forget about all those years that we were together? Don't you ever look through the old photo albums to reminisce?"

"No!" Reba said. "I don't want to reminisce because it just reminds me of everything we used to have! It's just too painful."

"Oh," was all Brock managed to get out. He had a hard time looking Reba in the eye.

"You have no idea how many times I'll be in the living room dusting, and I come across the old photo albums, and it's everything I can do not to look through them," Reba said to Brock.

"I'm sorry," Brock said, looking at the floor again.

"I know," Reba replied quietly. "It's just that when I look through those pictures, I look back at my 20-something year old self and I can't believe I was so naïve. I sometimes wish I could tell myself "Stop! You don't know what you're doing! It's a waste of time because he leaves you!""

Brock quickly shifted his gaze from the floor to his ex-wife. "It that really what you think of our marriage?! That it was a waste of time?" His words contained both anger and hurt.

Reba closed her eyes, realizing what she had said. "Brock, I'm so sorry. That's not what I meant at all. Of course it wasn't a waste of time. We had a good twenty years and three children together. I just meant that back then I was naïve. I assumed we would live a perfect life together with no fighting and live happily ever after. That's all."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I was naïve back then too," Brock responded. He looked deep into Reba's eyes and said with the most sincerity she's ever heard from him, "I'm so sorry for everything, Reba."

Reba was surprised that she felt herself getting choked up over this. "I know Brock," she said quietly. "It's getting late. Why don't you go on home to your wife."

"Yeah," Brock said as he headed for the door.

"Hold on," Reba said. She picked up the photo on the counter; the one that Brock had taken from the album and handed it to him with a half smile.

"Thank you Reba," Brock said sincerely.

She nodded at him as he left her house.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks to everyone for the reviews! I hope you like this chapter, it's my favorite one yet! Keep on reading :)

It had been a few days since the missing photo incident, and things seemed to cool down since then. It was a Saturday afternoon, and Jake was spending the day doing the interviews for his family tree project. He was in the living room getting ready to interview Cheyenne when Van came downstairs.

"Excuse me, Cheyenne," he said as he sat down between her and Jake. "Buddy, if we want to get this all done today we're gonna have to start now. So, I was born in Houston on July 12, 1984. It was pretty cold for July and my mom had been in labor for 16 hours. My dad said he knew I was gonna be a football player from the minute I was born because I-"

"Van," Jake interrupted. "We're only supposed to do interviews on our immediate family."

Van had a look of disappointment on his face. "Oh. Alrighty then," he said as he got up from the couch and headed upstairs. "I see how it is!" he shouted dramatically.

"Aw, honey!" Cheyenne said. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to mention you in my part!" she said with a grin as her husband disappeared to the second floor.

Cheyenne did her interview with Jake for about a half hour. She talked about being on the drill team, getting married to Van and having Elizabeth, and how she eventually wants to become a drug and alcohol counselor. When they were done, Jake yelled to his mom who was in the kitchen to come out and do her interview.

"I'm coming, Jake," Reba said as she put the finishing touches on a cake she had baked. She entered the living room and sat down on the couch next to Jake.

"Why don't we wait until Dad gets here so you guys can do your interviews together?" Jake suggested.

"Who's dad? Your dad?" Reba asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I invited him," Jake replied. "I thought it would be a good idea to talk to you guys together about how you met and stuff like that."

_Oh yeah, _Reba thought. _This ought to be a hoot._

As if on cue, Brock came through the front door. "Hey guys," he greeted.

"Hi Dad!" Jake replied.

"Hey Brock," Reba said.

"You guys ready to talk about your lives?" Jake asked excitedly. It was hard for Reba to be annoyed about this project when Jake was clearly so excited about it.

"Sure Jake," Reba replied. "Ask away!"

The three of them sat on the couch, with Jake in the middle.

"So," Jake began. "First I wanna know how you guys met."

Reba and Brock looked at each other, both feeling a little weird about discussing this. When neither of them took the lead, Brock began.

"Well," he started, already smiling thinking about the memory. "We met during college when your mom started dating my best friend, Terry Holliway."

"Is that the guy who died a couple years ago? When you guys thought it was a party but it was really a funeral?" Jake asked.

"Yup, that's the one," Reba answered.

Brock continued. "He hired your mom to work at the bar. He told me one day that he had just hired the most beautiful girl he had ever seen."

Reba smiled sadly, remembering the days of being with Terry.

"So I hung around the bar that day, waiting for her to come in to work. I just had to meet this girl that Terry told me about."

Jake smiled as he listened to his dad talk.

"So in walks this girl with long, red, curly hair. I knew right away that this was who Terry was talking about. Terry was behind the bar, and I was sitting at one of the bar stools just staring at her as she went to go talk to Terry. That's all I could really do; stare at her because she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen."

Reba forced herself to look away from Brock. _This is so weird, _she thought to herself.

Jake was vigorously taking notes, and Brock continued with the story. "So Terry said, "Reba, this is my best friend Brock. Brock, this is the Reba, the girl I hired." It took me forever to get any words out."

"What did you finally say?" Jake asked.

Reba scoffed. "He didn't say anything!"

Brock laughed. "That's right! You gave me that devilish look of yours and said, "You gonna say anything or just sit there and stare like a mo-ron?""

The three of them started laughing. "Sounds like Mom!" Jake said.

"Yeah," Brock said. "Right when she said that, I somehow just…knew."

"Knew what Dad?" Jake asked.

"Knew that…this funny, beautiful, sarcastic, fiery redhead standing in front of me…was the one for me." He looked right at Reba as he said those words.

There was no denying that Brock was tugging on Reba's heartstrings, but she wasn't sure if she should let herself feel it, or feel angry that he actually said Reba was the one for him. Sure, back then they thought they were meant for each other, but with Barbra Jean in the picture now, why would Brock say something like that?

"Uh, Jake, would it be okay if we took a little break real quick?" Reba asked, clearly getting uncomfortable with all the tension between her and Brock.

"Sure Mom. I'll go type up these notes," Jake responded as he went upstairs.

Without even looking at Brock, Reba went into the kitchen and absentmindedly started slicing the cake she baked earlier. Brock followed her, realizing that he had made her upset.

"Reba," he said quietly. "Are you okay?"

She looked up from the cake. "No Brock, I'm not okay," she said, waving the knife around as she yelled at her ex-husband. "Where do you get off saying things like that? Especially in front of our 10-year-old son? Why would you start talking about how I was "the one for you"? It doesn't matter anymore!"

"Whoa!" Brock said as he put his hands up in front of him to protect himself. "Put the knife down, then we'll talk."

Reba set it down on the counter. "This is not the way divorced couples are supposed to act. There's no way anyone who reads that report is gonna know we're divorced," she said, motioning to the living room. "We should not be such good friends, and we should definitely not be talking about how wonderful the other one is and how it was when we first met. Divorced couples _do not_ act that way!"

"Well if I recall correctly, you're the one who wanted us to become a divorced couple!" Brock shot back.

Reba's eyes widened and she smacked her hands onto the kitchen counter. "_What?! I'm _the one who told you to go have an affair with Barbra Jean?! _I'm _the one who made you ruin our marriage?!" Reba was furious, and that was quite clear to Brock.

"No!" Brock yelled back, becoming very angry himself. "But you _are_ the one who made it clear to me that we didn't have a chance after what happened with Barbra Jean, which is why I felt obligated to marry her," Brock said.

"Of course we didn't have a chance!" Reba yelled. "You got her pregnant! You think I'm gonna just let you come back while some woman is out there raising your child?! There is no way that it would have worked!"

Brock became very quiet. "What if the thing with Barbra Jean never happened?" he asked, looking at the floor.

"What?" Reba asked, shocked that he would say that.

"You heard me. What if I had never been with Barbra Jean, never gotten her pregnant? Would we have been able to work through the problems we had?"

"Brock, you cannot talk like that," Reba said. "It doesn't matter. You _did_ have an affair with Barbra Jean. You _did_ get her pregnant. You can't think about the what-ifs."

Brock closed his eyes in frustration. "You have to tell me that it wouldn't have worked out between us."

"Why?"

"Because if any part of you thinks we had even half a chance, it would absolutely kill me knowing that I threw it away."

With those words, Reba's anger left her body. A look of remorse came across her face as she looked into Brock's blue eyes. "I…I just don't-" she started.

"I need to hear you say it," Brock said again.

Reba took a deep breath. "I honestly can't say those words to you Brock. I don't know what would have happened."

The look that came across Brock's face was one of sadness, guilt, and regret. He looked away from Reba. "Okay," he said finally. "Um, can you just tell Jake to stop by the house if he wants to finish up the report with me?"

"Yeah," Reba answered, barely above a whisper.

"Thanks," Brock said as he left the house, avoiding eye contact with Reba as if his life depended on it.

After he left, Reba could sense that her blood pressure was rising due to all the fighting that just occurred. She decided to go upstairs and take a long, hot bubble bath to relax. _They couldn't have just bought the house in San Antonio, _she thought to herself as she went upstairs.


	4. Chapter 4

First of all, I just want to say thank you so much for your lovely reviews! They are SO appreciated and I'm so motivated when I read them. Enjoy this chapter! :)

It had been a couple days since Brock and Reba's fight. They had seen each other in passing, like when Brock came to see the kids or when Reba went to see Kyra. There was no denying that things were still awkward between them, but it seemed like they were getting back to their normal selves and their normal relationship.

Reba found herself thinking about all the old photos – the ones that Brock questioned if she ever looked at. Ever since he asked that, Reba couldn't get the thought out of her head. She longed to look back at the pictures of their wedding, baby pictures of the kids, and family vacations, but she just didn't want to be reminded of the good times. This afternoon, however, the kids were all at school and since she was alone she decided to look through an old photo album. _At least I'll have some peace and quiet, _she thought. She selected the album from the year 1984, when Cheyenne was born. She got lost in all the memories as she flipped the pages – bringing her baby girl home from the hospital, dressing her in all the cutest outfits, watching her fall asleep on Brock's chest. Reba felt tears coming to her eyes.

"Aha!"

Reba snapped back to reality as she looked up to see Brock pointing at her through the window in the kitchen looking out into the living room.

"So you do look through the old photos!" he said accusingly.

"Brock! For the love of God! You just about gave me a heart attack!" she exclaimed, standing up and putting down the album. "What the heck are you thinking sneaking up on me in my house?!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Brock said as he walked into the living room.

"Well you did, and for your information that was the first time I looked through the photos since our divorce, aside from when Jake asked me to last week," she replied.

"Okay, sure, if you say so," Brock said, not sounding convinced.

Reba was getting frustrated with Brock, and he had only been there for a minute. She ignored him as she walked into the kitchen.

Brock trailed behind Reba. "You miss those days, don't you Reba?" Brock asked jokingly, even though he was dying to know her answer to that question.

Reba turned around to face him when she got behind the kitchen counter. He was on the other side of it near the chairs. "Brock, there is no way I'm gonna start this again with you. You need to back off of this subject and leave well enough alone."

"There you go again Reba, denying that spark we have," he said with a devilish smile. He knew what he was getting himself into, but he didn't care.

Reba couldn't take it anymore. She needed to hit him, but really wanted to make it count. She scanned the kitchen for something to use. The knife she was using the other day? _No, that would end up with me going to jail, _she thought. Her eyes stopped looking around the kitchen when she saw the leftover cake sitting on the counter. She looked at it for a few seconds, then up at Brock.

"Reba, what are you-"

She didn't even think about letting him finish his sentence when she grabbed a fistful of cake and whipped it right at Brock. Her hands flew up to cover her mouth in shock of what she had just done – the result being Brock staring back at her, his entire face covered with cake and frosting. He cleared the frosting from his eyes and continued looking at Reba, who couldn't help but burst out in laugher. She couldn't remember the last time she laughed that hard. Brock finally spoke up.

"Oh no, you're not getting away with it that easy, Red!" he said as he lunged for the rest of the cake, scooped it up and chucked it at Reba, whose face was now equally as covered as Brock's. They stared at each other for a few seconds, then pointed at each other and both started laughing harder than ever. It went on for about a minute, until tears were streaming down their faces from the laughter. When they finally calmed down, Reba cleaned the mess off her face with a hand towel.

"Brock, I'm sorry I threw cake at you," she said, still chuckling.

"It's okay," he replied. "That was actually kind of fun!"

"Here," Reba said, walking over to Brock. "I can't talk to someone with a face full of cake," she said as she used the towel to clean his face off. When his eyes were cake-free and he could open them again, he never took them off Reba as she stood before him, gently moving the cloth around his face.

"You still have some cake in your hair," Brock said as he worked his fingers through her beautiful red, flipped-out hair, picking out pieces of cake and frosting. When he was done, he let his hand linger in her hair as his other hand reached up to softly touch Reba's arm. She could sense their faces moving closer together, which was impossible, Reba thought, because there was no way she would ever let that happen.

"Hey Mom!" Cheyenne said as she and Van entered the kitchen through the back door.

Brock and Reba jumped a mile and quickly stepped away from each other. "Uh, hey guys! How were classes today?" she asked awkwardly.

"They were okay," Cheyenne responded. "Hi Daddy," she said to Brock as she gave him a hug. "I didn't know you'd be over here."

"Yeah, uh, I just came over to talk to your mom," he said.

"Aw man!" Van exclaimed, looking at the mess on the counter and floor. "We missed a food fight!"

"A food fight?" Cheyenne questioned, as she walked behind the counter to where Van was standing.

"No, there was no food fight here," Reba said suspiciously. "I just made a little mess, that's all."

"Okay, if you say so," Cheyenne responded in a sing-song voice as she and Van headed to the living room. Van turned around. "Next time, wait till we get home!" he said seriously.

"I should, um, probably get home," Brock said as he headed for the back door. "That was fun," he said with a smile, referring to their "food fight".

Reba returned the smile. "Yeah, it was," she said, glad that Brock decided not to make things even more awkward by bringing up their almost-encounter.

"Reba, can I ask you something?" Brock asked, stepping back from the door.

"Sure," Reba replied.

"Does it bother you that I come over all the time?"

Reba had to think about this. Sure, there were times when she wished he would just stay home and not assume that he always had an open invitation to come over. She wished he had asked if it bothered her when he brought Barbra Jean over, she thought, smiling to herself. It made sense that he was over all the time though. If he wanted to see Van, Cheyenne, and Jake, the logical thing for him to do would be to just stop by. "No, I guess not," she finally responded. "You come over to see the kids, which you have every right to do, so I'm not bothered by it."

"Right, yeah, the kids," Brock said. "But what about when I come over to talk to you, would you rather I didn't?"

"I really don't know," Reba said honestly. She was taken aback that he was taking her feelings into consideration for once. This was not the Brock she knew. "Why are you askin' me this, Brock?"

"I don't know," Brock said. "I guess I was just thinking about what you said the other day about how divorced couples shouldn't be so close, and maybe you're right. Maybe we should, I don't know, distance ourselves a little."

"Oh," Reba said, with the tiniest bit of disappointment in her voice. "Well, is Barbra Jean included in this equation too? Because it's really not normal for her to be over here so much either," Reba said with a smirk.

"I'll see what I can do," Brock replied with a smile. "I should get going. I'll see you later Reba," he said as he touched her arm to say goodbye.

"Bye Brock," Reba responded.

* * *

That night, Brock explained to Barbra Jean as they were getting ready for bed how they should make themselves more scarce in terms of going over to Reba's.

"So you're saying I can't go over there anymore?!" Barbra Jean said with a horrified look on her face.

"Honey, that's not what I'm saying at all," Brock answered. "I think it would just be better if we only went over there to see the kids, or if there's some pressing need to be there."

"But she's my best friend! I always have a pressing need to be there!" Barbra Jean whined.

"Barbra Jean, try to cool it with the "best friends" thing. She'll be over here occasionally to see Kyra, but I think we just need to give her some space."

"Well why?" Barbra Jean asked. "Did she say something to you?"

Brock didn't want to go too into detail about the conversations and fights they had, or the trips down memory lane they took. "Like I said, I think she just needs some space."

Barbra Jean could sense that there was more to it than that, but she complied as she got into bed. "Alright, if that's what she wants," she said.

Brock turned out the lights and got into bed. Barbra Jean had her back to him, so he turned to the other side and quietly reached under the base of the lamp on his bedside table to reveal the picture that Reba had given him last week. He held it low so Barbra Jean wouldn't see it if she turned around. He never took his eyes off of it until he slowly closed them and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the beautiful redhead in the photo.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I'm borrowing a concept from the show "One Tree Hill" for this chapter, and it will reappear in future chapters as well, so I hope the OTH fans like it!

I do not own the shows One Tree Hill or Reba, or any of the concepts or themes.

Enjoy!

The next day, Jake wanted the whole family to get together so he could show everyone his finished family tree assignment. He had been working really hard on it, and was very proud of the finished product. Brock, Barbra Jean, and Kyra let themselves in and sat down in the living room where Reba, Van, and Cheyenne were already sitting.

"Where's Jake?" Brock asked, confused that the reason they were all here was nowhere in sight.

"He wants to make a big entrance," Reba explained.

"Is everyone in the living room?" They heard Jake yell from upstairs.

"Yes, Jake, we're all here," Reba yelled back.

"Okay, here I come!" Jake walked carefully down the stairs with a huge tri-fold poster. When he got to the living room, he opened it up and stood it up on the floor, smiling proudly at his work. The whole family gasped and smiled. He had done an incredible job. He drew a big tree with branches that took up the majority of the middle part, and on each branch was a picture of a family member. It started up at the top with his four grandparents, and at the bottom was Elizabeth. On the right and left sides of the tri-fold, Jake had posted paragraphs about each family member. Everyone went up to the poster to look more closely at the pictures, read the biographies of each person, and to congratulate Jake on an amazing job. While everyone was looking around at the poster, though, Brock and Reba were unable to take their eyes off one certain picture. Jake had included a copy of their wedding photo, and put it right in the middle of Brock and Reba's individual pictures. They heard the rest of the family talking and praising Jake, but everyone and everything seemed miles away as they gazed at that photo.

Reba finally looked away from it. "Jake, you did such a great job on this assignment!" she exclaimed as she got back to reality, giving her son a hug and kiss.

"You really did Jakey," Barbra Jean agreed. "But it wouldn't have killed you to shave five or so years off my birth year, just saying."

Reba gave her a look.

"I LOVE the picture you chose for me Jake!" Van said, referring to the action shot of him catching a football.

"Well I would hope so," Jake responded. "You left it on my pillow with a note that said "Use this picture of me for your assignment"."

Van glared at Jake while the family laughed. "I thought you weren't gonna say anything!"

Reba was hoping no one would mention the wedding photo, but of course, Kyra had to bring it up.

"What's up with the huge photo of Mom and Dad at their wedding?" she asked Jake.

"I wanted to put it on here," he answered, then looked at Brock. "Especially after that awesome story you told me about how you guys met, Dad."

Barbra Jean suddenly became interested in the conversation. She thought about questioning him, but decided to keep quiet.

"Yeah, buddy, that was nice," Brock said, trying to get his son to stop talking.

"Okay," Cheyenne said, getting tired of all the attention Jake was getting. "Since everyone's here, I want to read you all a poem I had to write for my Literature class," she said as she hurried off to the kitchen to get it. "Everyone gather round," she said as she walked back into the living room. They gathered to face Cheyenne, some standing, some sitting on the couch. Cheyenne was standing on the step near the front door.

"So, we're studying romantic literature, and we had to come up with a poem that we thought was romantic, so here goes! I call it "Who Do You See?"" She began reading:

_Close your eyes and tell me who you see._

_Who you see standing next to you._

Barbra Jean smiled and looked at Brock, as he was clearly the one she saw. But to her surprise, Brock was looking right at Reba.

_On your wedding day,_

_When your children and born,_

_When your children's children are born._

Reba shifted her gaze from Cheyenne to Brock, who was looking right back at her.

_Is life worth living if you're not with the one you see?_

_Close your eyes and really imagine._

_Imagine a life without that person._

Reba tried to look away, but it was as if some unknown force was keeping both pairs of piercing blue eyes locked together.

_Is it what you hoped it would be?_

_So tell me now,_

_The one you see standing next to you when all your dreams come true,_

_Who is it?_

_Who do you see?_

Their eye contact never stopped, even when Cheyenne finished reading.

"Wow Cheyenne," Kyra said. "Who would have ever thought that you have such a way with words?"

Cheyenne smiled and nodded, clearly very full of herself.

Barbra Jean's eyes narrowed and looked back and forth from Brock to Reba, who had yet to stop staring at each other. She was finally putting the pieces together: the photo Brock took, him wanting to give Reba space, talking to Jake about how they had met, and now the fact that they couldn't take their eyes off each other. Something was clearly going on, she thought to herself.

Reba broke the trance and stood up to give Cheyenne a hug. "Honey, that was beautiful," she said quietly.

"Thanks Mom," Cheyenne said, returning the hug.

"Who knew my lady was a poet?" Van said as he put his arm around his wife.

"Yeah, Cheyenne, how did you come up with the idea for that poem?" Brock asked curiously.

"I don't know, I guess I was just thinking about Van and our life together, and whenever I pictured something happening to me in my life, good or bad, I saw him with me no matter what," she said smiling up at her husband.

Brock glanced over at Reba, hoping for their eyes to meet again, but they didn't.

"You both did great on your assignments," Reba said to Jake and Cheyenne. "I'm gonna go get started on dinner," she said, then went into the kitchen.

"Hey," Jake said to everyone. "When was the last time we played a game of football?"

"Not since Thanksgiving, I don't think," Cheyenne responded. "We should get a game in before dinner!"

"Yeah, let's do it!" Jake said excitedly. Everyone headed outside laughing and talking about who would be on whose team.

"Start without me, you guys," Brock yelled to them. "I'll be right out." He wandered into the kitchen where Reba was making dinner. "Reba, I think we should talk about some things."

Reba looked up at him and sighed. "What do you want to talk about Brock?"

"I just feel like there's a lot going on with us right now and I want to get it out in the open."

"What do you mean there's a lot going on with us?" she asked.

"It just seems like lately we've had a lot of…moments, I guess. And I've been thinking about the past a lot, and I just…I don't know…" he trailed off.

"Listen Brock, I told you that you can't be thinking about the past and the what-ifs."

"I know," he started. "And God knows I love Barbra Jean, but I look at you…and I just…"

"Stop it! I _do not_ want to know what you're gonna say next!" Reba exclaimed.

"Just hear me out!" Brock fought back. "Do you remember when you came to my therapy session that time, and Dr. Baker asked if we still loved each other?"

"Of course I remember that. And as much as I try to forget it, I will always remember that day," she replied, rolling her eyes

"Well if you can recall, neither one of us answered that question," Brock said.

"Because it's a ridiculous question!" Reba shouted. "How can anyone expect me to love someone who did me wrong in the worst way?!"

"I don't know," Brock said softly. "But I don't think I've ever stopped feeling the way I felt about you."

Tears came to Reba's eyes. She was unable to tell if they were tears of anger, sadness, or joy. "Why would you say somethin' like that?" she asked, on the verge of crying.

Brock took a step closer to her. "Because it's the truth, and it's how I feel."

Reba responded by putting her hands up in front of her and shaking her head. At that moment, the back door opened and Barbra Jean entered the kitchen. Reba tried to subtly wipe the tears from her face, but Barbra Jean noticed them as well as the look of hurt on Brock's face. She looked back and forth at them.

"I wanna know what's goin' on. Right now."

FYI: The "One Tree Hill" reference was the part of the poem that said "who's standing next to you when all your dreams come true?" Peyton asked Lucas this question in the show. The rest of the poem I made up myself! Hope you guys liked this chapter – more Brock/Reba moments coming soon! Reviews are always appreciated :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks so much for all the reviews! And sorry it's taken me awhile to get this chapter up - hopefully more chapters will follow soon!**

* * *

Reba and Brock looked at each other, then at Barbra Jean. They weren't sure of what they should do or say. Brock had basically just said that he never stopped loving Reba, but there was no way they were going to let Barbra Jean know that.

Reba continued to whisk away any stray tears. "Nothing is goin' on Barbra Jean," she said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"I'm not an idiot, you guys," Barbra Jean replied, looking at the two of them. Brock and Reba exchanged glances, thinking the exact opposite of Barbra Jean's statement. "The two of you have been acting very weird lately and I wanna know what's going on."

Brock stepped in. "Barbra Jean, honey, we've just been arguing a lot lately, that's it. We've been talking about the past, which always turns into a fight, and that's what's been going on."

_He's partially telling the truth, _Reba thought to herself. _He always was a good liar._

Brock went over to his wife and gave her a kiss, as if to reassure her that everything was okay. Reba suddenly felt her heart drop to her stomach when she saw them kiss. _What is this feeling? _she thought. _It's not jealousy, is it? I've seen them kiss hundreds of times and I never got upset by it. Why now?_

Barbra Jean smiled at the both of them. She seemed to believe Brock's half-truth about why they were acting so strange. "Okay then. I'm gonna go back out and finish the game," she said. "Team Babby J is gonna dominate!" she yelled, running outside.

"I told you, Barbra Jean, that's not the name of our team!" they heard Van yell back at her as she closed the door.

"So," Brock said as he looked around the kitchen. "You want any help in here?"

"No thanks Brock," Reba replied. "Why don't you go join everyone outside?" She really didn't want to continue their conversation.

"Okay, but just so you know, I meant what I said before," Brock stated, referring to his comment about still feeling how he always felt about Reba.

Reba didn't answer. She walked over to the back door and opened it for Brock, who was not going to fight her on this one. He went outside and left Reba in the kitchen, continuing with dinner. But instead of joining the family outside when the food was in the oven, Reba sat down at the counter with a glass of wine and had a good, long cry.

* * *

The next night, the whole family went over to Brock and Barbra Jean's house for dinner while Reba was at an open house. Brock was in the living room picking up wine glasses and plates from the appetizers when Reba barged in. She looked scared to death and she was shaking.

Brock put down the glasses and rushed over to her. "Reba, what's wrong? Are you okay?" he asked, not knowing what was going on.

"Where are the kids? Where's everyone?" she asked.

"They're upstairs watching a movie. Now tell me what's going on," Brock said, placing his hands on her arms to calm her down.

"I was driving home just now from my open house, and I was on Main Street, and I looked down at the radio for _one second_ and when I looked back up the car in front of me was stopped. I had to swerve to the side of the road, then the car in back of me had to swerve, and I ended up hitting a guardrail." Her voice was breaking.

"Oh, sweetie, come here," Brock said, pulling her into a tight embrace. If there was one thing Reba loved about Brock's hugs, it was that they always made her feel so safe, which is what she needed right now.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Brock asked, pulling away and looking her up and down for signs of injury.

"I'm fine," she said. "It was just the front passenger side that hit the guardrail, and it shouldn't be too much to fix the car."

"Well that's good to hear, but honestly I could care less about the car," Brock said, giving Reba a small smile. "You have to try to be more careful Reba," he said, becoming serious again. "I don't know what this family would do without you."

"I know," Reba said quietly, looking down at the floor as if she was ashamed. "You know how they say your life flashes before your eyes?"

Brock nodded.

"That happened to me in that moment. I saw my children, my beautiful granddaughter, and…" Tears filled Reba's eyes. "And I saw you," she said, not holding back her tears.

Brock looked at Reba with such pain in his eyes, wondering how he could have ever let this incredible woman slip away from him. He pulled her close, giving her another hug. "It's you," he said barely above a whisper.

"What?" Reba asked, ending their embrace. She still had tears coming down her face.

"The one I see standing next to me for the rest of my life. It's you, Reba. It always has been, and it always will be…you." Brock reached out and wiped the remaining tears from her face as their eyes locked together. Reba slowly started to step back, but Brock matched every step she took so that she never got away from him. She finally felt her back touch the front door so that she was trapped between it and Brock. He placed one hand on the side of her face and neck, and the other hand on her waist. Reba couldn't do this anymore. These past few weeks had brought up the best and worst of their relationship and it was clear how Brock felt. Reba honestly had no idea how she felt, so she decided to just give in. She finally relaxed her body and stopped resisting, allowing Brock's lips to crash onto hers in a mind-blowing kiss. During that moment, Reba felt safe, and she felt home. As their kiss deepened, she wrapped her arms around Brock's neck, who in return wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Daddy?"

Brock and Reba turned around to find Henry standing on the stairs looking at Brock and Reba. They looked at each other, then back at the four-year-old.

"Hey Henry," Brock said cautiously as he went over to him, wondering how much he had seen. "What's goin' on buddy?"

"Were you and auntie Reba kissing?" Henry asked innocently as he glanced over to Reba. Her eyes widened.

"No, no Henry. I was just giving auntie Reba a hug because she was scared. You know how when you're scared of something I give you a big hug and you're not afraid anymore?"

"Yeah," Henry replied.

"Well, I was giving her a hug so that she wouldn't be afraid anymore. You understand?"

"Yeah. Mommy said if I came downstairs you would get me some ice cream," Henry said.

"Ice cream?" Brock said. "Yes! Let's get you some ice cream buddy!" He motioned for Reba to follow them into the kitchen. Brock assembled a bowl of vanilla ice cream with the fixings.

"Don't forget the cherry on top!" Reba said as she placed a maraschino cherry on the top of his sundae.

"Alright Henry, you can take that upstairs but be really, really careful, okay?" Brock instructed.

"Okay Daddy. Bye auntie Reba," Henry said as he walked out of the kitchen.

"Bye Henry," Reba replied with a smile. As soon as he was out of sight and earshot, the smile on her face disappeared. "What the hell just happened out there?!" she exclaimed as she pointed out to the living room. "He probably saw everything!" As she said "everything," she gave Brock a swift slap on the arm.

"Ow! What are you hitting me for?!"

"You're not worried he's gonna go upstairs and tell your _wife_ what he just saw?!"

"Reba, calm down. He's four years old. He sees something, gets distracted, and forgets all about it. Plus, I lied and told him it wasn't what he saw," Brock explained.

"Yes Brock, lying has always been one of your strong suits," Reba said as she turned to leave the kitchen and go into the living room.

"Hey, wait a second!" Brock said as he followed her to the next room and grabbed her arm. "We have to talk about what just happened!"

Reba let out a sigh, hoping she could leave before Brock wanted to talk about that.

"Did you mean what you said about how you saw me when your life flashed before your eyes?" Brock asked.

Reba took a moment before she answered. "I did, Brock," she said. "I did see you when I was swerving and wasn't sure what would happen to me out there."

"So you feel the same way," Brock said, taking a step closer to Reba. She stopped him before he came any closer.

"I really don't know how I feel," Reba said slowly.

"So, what, that kiss meant nothing to you?" Brock asked, looking hurt.

"I don't know!" Reba said, becoming frustrated with herself. "I just never thought _this_," she said, motioning between herself and Brock, "would be something that could ever happen…again. I really did stop loving you, which I honestly never thought could happen."

"Wow, you sure know how to make a guy feel good," Brock said, sounded both sarcastic and hurt.

Reba took a step closer to Brock. "Brock, I just meant that after you left me, I had a pretty good reason to stop loving you. Wouldn't you feel the same way if the situation was reversed?"

"I don't know. Maybe," Brock responded, looking at the floor.

"I think you probably would," Reba said. "But even though I stopped loving you, the past couple weeks have been so crazy. All the time we've spent talking about the past and you telling Jake how we met has brought back a lot of old feelings, which is probably why we did what we just did," she said.

Just then, Van, Cheyenne, and Jake came downstairs. "Hey you guys!" Cheyenne greeted. "How was your open house, Mom?"

Reba tried to appear as normal as possible. "It was fine, sweetie. How was your movie?"

"Van cried at the end!" Jake interjected.

"I told you, I have allergies!" Van said defensively as he headed out the door.

Cheyenne rolled her eyes. "You coming home, Mom?"

"Yeah, you guys go ahead. Your dad and I just have to finish talking about something."

"Okay, see you at home," Cheyenne said as she and Jake left. Brock and Reba jumped right back to their conversation.

"I'm not sorry for what we just did, Reba," Brock said. "What I'm saying is that I still love you."

Reba simply nodded, as if she knew those words were coming. "And what I'm saying is that I don't know how I feel."

"So what are we gonna do?"

"Well," Reba started. "I'm gonna go on home, and you're gonna go upstairs to your wife. And that's where we are right now." She touched Brock's arm as if to say goodbye before heading out the front door.

* * *

**I hope everyone liked this chapter! Reviews are always appreciated! I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner rather than later :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's chapter 7, as promised! I love all the reviews, please keep them coming! Enjoy this chapter :)**

* * *

"Oh man, Mrs. H., you really did a number on your car!" Van said as he came back inside from inspecting Reba's car the next morning.

"Yeah, well, it was either do a number on both my car and the car in front of me or just my car. I'm just glad my car was the only one involved," Reba said.

"Well if you want, I can hook you up with the guy that fixed Rhonda after _someone _broke her!"

Reba laughed at Van's comment, remembering the time she crashed his precious car when she wasn't wearing her glasses. "That would be a big help, Van. Thanks. Hey, I'm gonna go see if I can catch Kyra before she goes to school," she said as she patted Van on the shoulder and left.

Meanwhile at Brock and Barbra Jean's, Brock was in the kitchen getting his breakfast ready and Barbra Jean and Henry were sitting at the breakfast nook eating.

"Hey, honey, were you having a bad dream or something last night?" Brock asked his wife. "You were tossing and turning like crazy."

"Oh, yeah!" Barbra Jean recalled. "I was having this dream that I was being chased by zombies. It was so scary."

"Mommy, you should ask Daddy for a hug to make you not scared anymore!" Henry piped in.

Brock's eyes widened. _Oh no, _he thought to himself.

"That would be very nice of Daddy, wouldn't it?" Barbra Jean said. She turned around to face her husband. "Brock?" she said with a smile.

He smiled that fake smile of his and went over to give her a hug. His heart was racing a mile a minute.

"See?" Henry said with a smile. "Now you're not afraid anymore! Just like auntie Reba!"

_Ohhh no, _Brock thought.

"What do you mean, Henry?" Barbra Jean asked her son.

"Auntie Reba was scared yesterday so Daddy gave her a hug to make her not scared," Henry explained.

"Yeah, after she crashed her car. I told you about that," Brock said. "She was pretty shaken up."

Barbra Jean nodded at him.

"They were kissing. Yuck!" Henry said before going back to his Cheerios.

Barbra Jean just stared at Henry for a few moments, taking in what the four-year-old had just said. She slowly turned her head to face Brock. As she stared him down, she never moved a muscle in her face. Brock had never seen that look on her before. As if on cue, Reba entered through the back door.

"Hey, Kyra didn't leave yet did she?" she asked, wanting it to feel like any other day between herself, Brock, and Barbra Jean, despite what had happened the night before. Little did she know, that would not be the case.

Barbra Jean shifted her gaze from Brock to Reba. Brock shook his head at his ex-wife and pointed at the door to let her know that she should leave while she still can.

"Henry, why don't you go upstairs and play for a little while, okay?" Barbra Jean asked her son.

"Okay Mommy," he replied, going upstairs.

"What's…what's goin' on?" Reba asked cautiously after Henry got upstairs, looking back and forth between Brock and Barbra Jean.

Barbra Jean quickly stood up. "Sit down. Both of you," Barbra Jean replied, trying to be calm.

"Barbra Jean, what is-"

"_Sit. Down._"

Brock and Reba looked at each other, shock written all over their faces. They had never seen Barbra Jean so stern and serious before, and they were not about to test her. They each took a seat at the kitchen table as Barbra Jean paced the floor.

"I am going to ask this question once, and when I do, I want the truth. Reba, before you got here, Henry said that Daddy and auntie Reba were kissing last night. Is what he said true?"

Reba looked at Brock with her "I told you so" look. She absolutely knew that what Henry saw would somehow get back to Barbra Jean. She knew she had to answer her, but couldn't look her in the eye. She stared at the placemat on the table. "Yes," she said in a small voice.

Barbra Jean closed her eyes, the news being too much for her. "Leave my house," she said to the woman who she considered her best friend.

"Barbra Jean, can't we-"

"Reba," Barbra Jean interrupted. "I really need you to not be here right now."

"Okay, fine," Reba complied as she got up and left.

Brock remained sitting at the table in silence. He had no idea what to say. The words "Hey, Barbra Jean, I'm still in love with my ex-wife" didn't exactly seem appropriate. He decided to let Barbra Jean take the lead.

"I don't even know what to say to you, Brock," Barbra Jean said. "I had a feeling that something might be up between you two but I never thought it would come to this."

"I honestly didn't think it would come to this either," Brock responded.

Barbra Jean looked at him with disgust. "I'm just way too mad to even be here right now, so I'll tell you what. I'm gonna leave for a little while."

"What? Where are you gonna go?" Brock asked

"I'm gonna take Henry and we're gonna go to Fisheye Bottom to stay with my family for awhile. After this, I need some time to be by myself and think."

"But shouldn't we talk about this?" Brock asked. "If you just leave, nothing's gonna get fixed."

"You need to figure out what you want, Brock. We've been so distant lately and something needs to change. Whether it's us working on our marriage or us ending our marriage, I really could care less right now, but when I get back you need to have some sort of idea of what you want. You cannot keep living in two worlds, Brock. You can't spend your days pining over Reba and trying to be in her world and then come home to me and want to be part of my world. Something needs to change," she said, going upstairs to pack.

Brock wasn't sure what to do. Should he go tell Reba what had just happened? Should he let Barbra Jean do that? He decided to lay low for a while and start figuring things out after Barbra Jean and Henry left.

Things were just as confusing back at Reba's. She wasn't sure if she should tell Cheyenne and Van what was going on or not. _They always seem to find things out anyways, _she thought to herself. _I'm sure they'll find out about this too somehow. _Reba felt like she really needed to talk to someone about this. She decided to call her longtime best friend, Lori Ann. Ever since she had moved away, they didn't keep in touch as often as both of them would like, but Reba was determined to change that. She could hear Van and Cheyenne upstairs, so she decided to make her phone call outside so they wouldn't hear anything. She grabbed the kitchen phone and went out to the garage.

Meanwhile, Barbra Jean had finished packing and she was headed over to Reba's house to tell her that she was leaving for a little while. When she neared the back door, she heard Reba's voice from the garage. She tiptoed over and stood around the corner from the open garage door, eavesdropping on Reba's conversation.

"So I honestly have no idea what to do, Lori Ann. Brock has made it very clear that he still loves me but if I give him another chance, I'm risking getting hurt again. Plus the fact that he's married to Barbra Jean doesn't help the situation either."

Barbra Jean rolled her eyes.

"This whole things is just so crazy! In that moment that Brock and I kissed, I was the other woman _to the other woman! _Do you have any idea what that feels like? Oh, well, yeah I guess that doesn't really surprise me about you. But seriously, what I am supposed to do?"

Reba was silent for a few moments.

"Yes, I know you think he's a cheap, orange mo-ron, but you have to remember that we _were_ married for twenty years, so he must have done something right. I just don't know why this is so hard for me. Maybe it's because I've been so lonely lately. Remember Brock and Barbra Jean's marriage counselor that I dated for a little while, Jack?"

She paused to let Lori Ann ask what happened with the two of them.

"Well, as far as I know, he was goin' up to Boston for a month or two but we haven't really kept in touch. He said he'd call the minute he got back, but I'm startin' to think that won't happen. It's already been almost two months. I don't know, Lori Ann, I just feel like if he stayed here, this whole thing would be so much easier. The two of us would be together and I wouldn't even have thought twice about my feelings for Brock. I wish Jack had stuck around long enough for me to find out, but I think I really could have loved him."

A devilish smile came across Barbra Jean's face. She quietly left the yard and headed home. Her brain was starting to hatch a plan...

**Let me know what you think of this chapter! I'll try to get chapter 8 up ASAP!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm so sorry it's taken so long to update! I'm hoping to finish this story very soon :) Enjoy!**

* * *

It had been a week since Barbra Jean and Henry left for Fisheye Bottom. Brock decided not to see Reba during that time as she said she needed time to think, and she was definitely doing a lot of thinking. She thought about what had happened between her and Brock, she thought about what would happen to Brock and Barbra Jean's marriage, but most of all, she thought about Jack Morgan. Ever since she talked to Lori Ann on the phone last week he had been on her mind. Even though she had been thinking about Jack, she decided it was about time to get Brock over to the house to really talk things out. She needed to know where they stood.

Fifteen minutes later, the front door opened to reveal not Brock, but Barbra Jean standing there.

Reba was clearly startled and jumped. "Barbra Jean! What are you doin' here?! I was expecting Brock!"

Barbra Jean squinted her eyes at her former best friend. "Oh I bet you were."

As if on cue, Brock entered through the back door. "Barbra Jean?" he questioned when he saw his wife through the window. He joined them in the living room. "Why didn't you tell me when you were coming back?" he asked Barbra Jean.

"I wasn't exactly sure when I'd be back," Barbra Jean replied with somewhat of an attitude. "You see, I had to make a little pit stop on the way back from Fisheye Bottom," she said with a smile as she glanced out to the driveway.

Brock and Reba looked at each other in confusion. Reba heard footsteps approaching the front door. "Barbra Jean, what is-"

Reba stopped mid-sentence when none other than Jack Morgan appeared in the doorway. She was speechless for a few seconds as she wondered if he was really there or if she was just dreaming. "Oh my god, Jack!" she finally exclaimed as she leaped into his arms.

Jack smiled as he hugged her back. "Hey, Reba. I missed you so much." He ended their hug and guided her lips to his in a soft kiss. A look of horror came across Brock's face, to which Barbra Jean just smiled.

"Come here," Brock said to Barbra Jean as he broke her evil trance and grabbed her arm, practically dragging her into the kitchen. He went over and closed the window looking into the living room. "What the hell is this?!" he yelled, pointing out to the living room. "Why on earth did you bring Jack here?!"

Barbra Jean remained calm and folded her arms in front of her. "I decided to take matters into my own hands. I will not let yours and Reba's little love affair determine how my life turns out. I just took Reba out of the equation for you."

"So then you want to stay married?" Brock asked, very confused.

"Oh no," Barbra Jean said confidently. "I want a divorce. I can't stay married to someone who is clearly still in love with his ex-wife and always will be."

Brock looked at Barbra Jean as if she was insane. "So why would you bring Jack here to get back together with Reba if you're gonna divorce me anyway?!"

Barbra Jean took a step closer to Brock. "So that you can finally know what it's like to be truly lonely!"

Brock calmed down a little bit. "What?"

"For four years, Brock, I have had to watch you and Reba have this undeniable chemistry and just pretend that it doesn't exist or that I don't notice it. You have obviously never fallen out of love with her and how you can stay married to me while feeling that way about her is simply beyond me, but I'm not gonna take it anymore. Now you get to sit back and watch her be with someone she can trust and doesn't have to think twice about, like you. I'm done, Brock. I'm packing my things."

With that, Barbra Jean left through the back door. Brock stood there for a few moments in awe, surprised that she would do something like that to him. Maybe he deserved it for hoping that Barbra Jean would ask for a divorce and he could be free to be with Reba, but that wouldn't happen with Jack in the picture now. Brock peered around the corner into the living room to see the two of them sitting on the couch together laughing and catching up. He wasn't sure if he should stay or leave. He decided that since Reba had asked him over, he would stay. He went back out to the living room and offered up a fake smile and a handshake to Jack. Brock noticed Reba's eyes widen when she saw Brock and she looked uncomfortable, like she had completely forgotten about her current situation with him. Brock decided to break the ice between the three of them.

"So Jack, what brings you back to town?"

"Well, Barbra Jean actually called my Houston office two days ago to see when I was coming back. It had been my plan to arrive yesterday, which I did. I finished up everything I had to do up north and when I got situated back here I was gonna give this one a call," he said, patting Reba's leg. "I was actually really surprised to hear from Barbra Jean, though. She said she wanted me back ASAP to get back together with Reba."

"Yeah, well, Barbra Jean has a way of surprising people when they least expect it," Brock replied.

Reba chimed in. "Uh, Jack, did Barbra Jean say anything else when she talked to you?" she asked curiously.

"Nope, just that she wanted us to get back together. Why?"

"No reason, just wondering," Reba replied.

"You do want to get back together, right?" Jack asked Reba.

She glanced at Brock for a split second before looking back at Jack.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna head out," Brock said, standing up.

"Brock, you don't have to go," Reba said, standing up as well.

"You two have a lot to talk about," Brock said quietly to Reba. "We'll talk later." He lightly touched her arm before he left out the front door.

Reba found herself staring at the door after Brock had left. Jack got up from the couch and joined her.

"Hey," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking I'm really glad you're back," Reba replied with a smile. "And of course I want us to get back together."

Jack smiled back at her. "Good. Because I missed you so much."

Then, they heard Van and Cheyenne coming downstairs. "Jack! You're back in town!" Cheyenne exclaimed.

"Well, well," Van said, looking Jack up and down. "Mister "I'm so good-looking" has finally returned."

"Van, you seem to comment on my looks quite a bit," Jack responded playfully. "There's really no shame if you're attracted to me," he said with a smirk.

The smile on Van's face vanished. "No man, it's not like that," he said in his "tough voice."

Cheyenne rolled her eyes at her husband. "Are you guys back together?" she asked Reba excitedly.

"We are," she replied with a smile.

Cheyenne clapped her hands and jumped up and down. "Yay! This is so exciting! I'm so happy for you guys!"

"Thanks Cheyenne," Jack responded.

"Hey Mom, do you know what's going on with Dad and Barbra Jean? Is she back from Fisheye Bottom yet?" Cheyenne asked Reba.

She searched carefully for her words. "She is back, and she was over here earlier but she must have left." Reba wasn't sure what exactly Brock and Barbra Jean wanted the rest of the family to know about the current situation.

"Yeah, she called me and said that when I got back to Houston I just had to get back together with your mom," Jack said to Cheyenne.

"Really? That is so sweet!" Cheyenne said. "Barbra Jean really loves you, huh Mom?"

Reba laughed nervously. "Yeah. I guess so." She was still slightly confused. Did Barbra Jean get in touch with Jack so that the two of them could get back together and she could stay married to Brock?

Jack spoke up. "Well, I'm gonna head back to my place. I still have a ton of unpacking to do. I'll see you later, Reba," he said as he kissed her goodbye. "Bye, you two," he waved to Van and Cheyenne as he exited the house.

Cheyenne smiled ear to ear at her mother.

"What?" Reba asked.

"Aren't you so excited that he's back, Mom?"

"Yeah, I really am," Reba replied, although she knew that she should be feeling more excited than she was.

"Is he back for good?" Cheyenne asked.

"As far as I know, yeah."

"Well, I think it's great. You guys were so happy and it was obvious how upset you were when he left."

Reba smiled at her daughter. "Thank you, honey," she replied as she gave her daughter a hug. Van smiled and walked toward his mother-in-law with outstretched arms. "I'm okay," Reba responded.

* * *

Later that night, Reba decided she needed to straighten things out with Brock and Barbra Jean. She went over to their house and let herself in through the back door. Brock was at the sink cleaning up and thankfully Barbra Jean was nowhere in sight.

"Hey, Brock," Reba said as she shut the door.

"Hey," he responded, shutting off the water. "Jack leave?"

"Yeah, he had a lot of unpacking to do. Where's Barbra Jean?" she asked nervously.

"Just the opposite. She's upstairs packing."

"Packing? Why?"

"She's leaving. She wants a divorce."

"What?!" Reba exclaimed, stunned.

"Yeah. I'm sure you can imagine how surprised I was," Brock said.

"But why?" Reba asked. "Why would she make sure that Jack comes back here to get back together with me only to leave you?"

"That seems to be the million dollar question."

Brock and Reba turned to face the kitchen doorway where Barbra Jean was standing.

"Barbra Jean-" Reba started.

"I told this to Brock and I'll tell it to you," Barbra Jean interrupted. "I made sure you and Jack would get back together so that Brock would know what it's like to be alone. No, I don't plan on staying married to him. I want a divorce because I cannot stay married to someone who is clearly in love with someone else and not me."

"Barbra Jean, this is-" Brock began.

"No, Brock," Barbra Jean interrupted again. "You thought you were gonna have it easy, didn't you? You thought I would ask for a divorce and you could run off to Reba and live happily ever after. Well, I was not gonna make it that easy for you. You don't deserve to have it easy after everything you did to Reba and to me. She deserves someone better. She deserves Jack."

Reba was now very confused. "Are you saying that you're not mad at me?" she asked.

"I'm saying that at the end of the day, I blame Brock and not you."

Reba looked over at Brock. Neither one of them was sure what to say or do.

Barbra Jean spoke up again. "Brock, we're done. We have nothing left between us. All my things are packed and Henry and I are going back to Fisheye Bottom for the time being. I'll be in touch about where to go from there."

"Fine," Brock said calmly.

Barbra Jean turned to Reba. "I'm gonna miss you, Reba," she said.

"I'm gonna miss you too, Barbra Jean," Reba said, still slightly in shock about everything that was happening.

"Barbra Jean, what am I supposed to tell the kids?" Brock asked.

"You tell them whatever you want, Brock. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't tell them about your little encounter though," she said, pointing to Brock and Reba. She went upstairs to get Henry and all her belongings.

"Whoa," Reba said when Barbra Jean was out of sight.

"Yeah," Brock replied.

"I can't believe she did this to hurt you," Reba said, looking at Brock.

"And I can't believe everything that's happening right now," Brock said quietly. "You mind if we talk tomorrow? I don't think I can deal with anything else right now."

"Sure," Reba replied. "Why don't you come on over in the morning."

Brock nodded as Reba left through the back door.

* * *

The next morning, Reba was sitting at the kitchen table drinking her coffee when Van and Cheyenne came downstairs with Elizabeth.

"Mom," Cheyenne started. "We want to know what's going on with Dad and Barbra Jean."

Reba looked up at her daughter. "Cheyenne, I'm not really the one you should be talking to about this."

"Oh, come on! You went over there last night. Did you find anything out?"

Reba decided to answer Cheyenne so that she would stop hounding her. "Your dad and Barbra Jean have decided to get a divorce. If you want details about this, you'll have to talk to him."

"They're splitting up?" Van asked. "Man, why can't Mr. H hold on to his women?"

Reba glared at her son-in-law.

"Well, I guess we'll have to talk to him later. We're gonna bring Elizabeth to daycare. We'll see you later, Mom," Cheyenne said as the three of them left.

Reba headed out to the living room to watch some TV when Brock came through the front door.

"Hey, Reba," Brock said, looking extremely tired.

"Hey, Brock. Listen, I'm so, so sorry about the whole Barbra Jean thing. I had no idea she was talking to Jack," Reba said as she walked over to Brock.

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about," Brock said. "I was up almost the whole night thinking about us and I decided that it's not right for you to get back with Jack the second he arrives when we were clearly in the middle of something."

Reba folded her arms in front of her and raised her eyebrows. "You want to talk to me about what's right?" she asked.

Brock put his hands out in front of him. "I just meant that you know how I feel about you. We talked about this, Reba. Hell, we kissed! How can you just run back to Jack after all that?"

"I told you that I wasn't sure how I felt about the you and me situation," Reba said.

"So Jack coming back made you realize you want nothing to do with me anymore?" Brock asked.

"His coming back made me realize how much I missed him, Brock," Reba replied.

Brock stared at her for a few moments. "Do you love him?" Brock asked flatly.

"What?"

"Jack. Do you love him?"

"Brock, you cannot ask me that. We went out a few times two months ago and he just got back to town _yesterday. _You have no right to-"

"Do. You. Love. Him?" Brock asked for a third time, clearly getting frustrated.

Reba squinted her eyes and folded her arms again. "Yes," she said simply.

Brock shook his head and scoffed. "No you don't."

Reba's eyes widened. "Excuse me?! How dare you tell me how I feel?!"

"Reba, I don't know what else to do. I am so, so in love with you. I have always been and I always will be. That's it," Brock said hopelessly.

Reba felt tears coming to her eyes. "It's not gonna work," she said quietly, doing everything in her power not to cry.

Brock shook his head and looked at her as if she was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. Reba was taken aback when he stepped towards her, placed one hand on the back of her head and neck, and pulled her close in another earth-shattering kiss. Reba closed her eyes and placed a hand on the side of Brock's face as their kiss deepened. They turned around and made their way across the room until Reba was up against the front door. She wrapped her arms around Brock as he kissed her neck.

"Reba?! Brock?!" Jack had come in through the back door and was shocked, to say the least.

The two of them pulled apart and looked horrified at the sight of Jack Morgan in the living room. They were speechless for a few moments.

"Well, this is definitely not normal behavior for a divorced couple," Jack said as he looked at Brock and Reba.

"Jack, you have to let me explain," Reba said as she walked toward him.

"I don't think that's a good idea right now, Reba," Jack said as he walked over to the front door to leave. "I'm gonna go." He glared right at Brock. "I would suggest you do the same."

"Yeah, I think I'll head home," Brock said, looking nervously at Reba. She stood in the doorway and watched Brock start on the 26-second walk home and watched Jack get in his car and back out of the driveway. Reba's eyes widened when she saw a car speeding recklessly down the street.

"_Watch out!"_

**I hope you all liked this chapter! Please review! I'll try not to leave you guys hanging for too long :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**So, I know the ending of the last chapter was a little confusing, but I wanted to make the story interesting! Hope you all like this chapter – I promise you'll get some closure :) There is a time jump 14 years into the future. Enjoy! Review!**

14 years later

Reba slowly walked down the stairs on a cold Friday morning. There was something eerie and sad about this day. Each year she thought it would get easier, but each year she was proven wrong. She felt so tired this morning, and it wasn't just because she was nearing sixty. Even though she had gotten older, she still maintained her beauty and fiery red hair. She went into the kitchen where her husband was standing over the stove making breakfast. She had gotten used to the two of them having the house to themselves all the time. The kids were all grown and moved out, but had managed to stay in the area.

"Hey, honey. Breakfast will be ready in about twenty minutes."

"Okay," she responded with a sad smile. God knows that she loves this man more than life itself, but that didn't really matter on this particular day. She backtracked into the living room and went for a photo album. She sat on the bottom step and pulled out a special picture she kept tucked away. She lightly touched the man's face in the photo. "I miss you so much," she whispered to herself.

The front door opened and Cheyenne let herself in. Reba jumped a little bit and put the photo face down next to her.

"Hey, Mom," Cheyenne greeted.

"Hi, sweetie. Where are you off to?"

"I'm on my way to pick up Elizabeth from school. She's coming home for the long weekend," Cheyenne replied, sitting next to her mother on the step.

"That's nice," Reba said, patting her daughter's arm.

"Maybe while she's home we can all have dinner together," Cheyenne suggested.

"Sure, that's a great idea," Reba answered.

Cheyenne caught a glimpse of the face down photo next to Reba and picked it up. "Oh, Mom," she said sadly as she put her arm around Reba.

"Fourteen years ago today," Reba said.

"Yeah. I remembered this morning when I woke up," Cheyenne said.

"I miss him so much, Cheyenne," Reba said, feeling her eyes tear up.

"Mom, we all do, okay, but remember what the doctors said? That accident put him into a coma and there was no telling if he'd ever wake up. His wishes were to wait a month, and even after that he was in a completely vegetative state. That's no way to live."

"I know. You're right," Reba said, pulling herself together. "He wouldn't have wanted to live that way."

"No way," Cheyenne agreed. She glanced over at the window looking into the kitchen. "Aww, is he making you breakfast?" she asked.

Reba gave a small smile. "Yeah," she replied.

"How great is he?" Cheyenne asked, smiling.

"He's pretty great," Reba said, smiling more.

"Well, you enjoy your breakfast, and I gotta go get Elizabeth. She's having me bring her a bunch of stuff that she forgot when we moved her into the dorm," Cheyenne said as she got up.

Reba smiled as she thought of her granddaughter. "Well she is forgetful. She's so much like you and Van."

"Ha ha," Cheyenne responded. "I'll see you later, Mom," she said as she kissed the top of Reba's head.

"Bye, sweetie."

Reba glanced at the clock. It was almost 10:00. She knew that she should be expecting a phone call today. She got a call on this day from a certain someone every year. Just as she stood up, the phone rang. _I must have a sixth sense, _Reba thought to herself. She answered the phone. "Hello? Hey Barbra Jean."

They talked for the next ten minutes about the loss they suffered fourteen years ago, as they did every year. Reba didn't really consider them to be friends, as she hadn't seen Barbra Jean since she decided to move to Fisheye Bottom. After everything that had happened, they decided that an annual phone call on this date would be appropriate. They were finally able to move past the awkwardness that happened fourteen years ago and carry out a normal conversation. After Reba hung up the phone, she headed into the kitchen for what smelled like a delicious breakfast.

"I'm assuming that was Barbra Jean?" her husband asked as he looked up at her from setting the table.

"Yeah, we had a nice talk," Reba replied.

"That's good. How is she?"

"She sounded really good. She mentioned she had a date last night that went really well,"  
Reba said, raising her eyebrows.

"Really? Well, I think it's safe to say I'll always be her number one," he said, chuckling.

Reba laughed and went over to give him a hug and a kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and looked into his beautiful eyes.

"I love you, Reba."

"I love you too, babe."


	10. Chapter 10

**I know the last chapter was a little confusing but I wanted to keep you guys guessing about who Reba ends up with. There's no way I could end a story like that! This will be the last chapter of the story – hope you all like it :)**

**And just to clarify – italics are flashbacks and regular font is present day**

* * *

Reba had just finished cleaning up after dinner. She was still in a depressed mood about what day it happened to be. It was still light out so she decided to sit outside on the front porch swing. She found herself staring out at the driveway, thinking about that awful day fourteen years ago…

"_Watch out!"_

_Reba felt as if she was frozen and couldn't move. She just stared at the sight before her, Jack's car smashed by the car that was speeding down the street. Brock, who was standing just yards away on the sidewalk, immediately rushed to the scene. Reba did the same, but she felt like she was moving in slow motion. _

She was so lost in thought that she didn't even hear her husband open the front door.

"Hey, Brock," she said as he sat down next to her.

"Thinking about Jack?" he asked, taking one of her hands.

"Yeah," she responded quietly.

"I can't believe it's been this long," Brock said. He had aged very gracefully and had a distinguished look to him. Reba had finally made him stop tanning and his hair had both gray and blond strands in it.

"I know," Reba replied. "It seems like just yesterday."

"_You have to call 911!" Reba screamed at Brock in between sobs. _

"_That's what I'm doing!" Brock shouted back, reaching in his pocket for his cell phone. _

"_Jack, please, please hang on!" Reba cried. She was standing near the passenger's side of Jack's car, looking through the window. She saw Jack but couldn't see any movement. The other car had hit the driver's side and there was no movement from that driver either._

"What if I had gotten to him sooner?" Brock asked.

"What?"

"If I ran over faster and called 911 sooner-"

"Brock. There is no way that would have made a difference. You ran over there before I even know what happened and you couldn't have called any faster than you did," Reba assured him. Brock still blamed himself for what happened that day. In his mind, if he hadn't kissed Reba, Jack wouldn't have stormed out and gotten in his car to drive away.

"I guess," Brock said.

"It was the impact that got him, Brock," Reba said. "The second that car hit him, it was pretty much a done deal. At least, that's what the doctors said."

_Brock and Reba were in Jack's hospital room. It had been four weeks since the accident and there were still no signs of brain activity. The two of them got to the hospital almost every day to visit him, and they tried to stay out of the way of his family members visiting. In order to avoid any drama, they lied and said that they were friends of Jack. Reba sat there holding Jack's hand and staring at him, hoping that that would be enough to wake him up._

"_Hello Reba, Brock." The neurologist entered Jack's room holding his chart. _

"_Hi, Dr. Jenkins," Reba said. _

"_I came in here to let you know that today at six p.m. ends the thirty-day period that Jack specified in his living will."_

_Reba and Brock looked at each other and nodded, this information not coming as a surprise to them. _

"_So in the last month there's really been no brain activity at all? Not even a little?" Reba asked._

"_I'm afraid not," Dr. Jenkins replied. "He clearly stated that if he were ever to become brain-dead, he wanted to give it thirty days and then have all life support turned off."_

"_I just can't believe it's been a month," Brock said, more to himself than to the doctor._

"_His family told me that they would like to be with him at that time," Dr. Jenkins explained._

"_Of course. We don't want to intrude on them," Brock said. He turned to Reba. "We should probably say our goodbyes now."_

"_I'll leave you to it," Dr. Jenkins said before exiting the room._

_Reba was still by Jack's side staring at him, not acknowledging that she needed to say goodbye. Brock gently patted Jack's shoulder and looked at him for a few moments. "I'm so sorry," he whispered before standing up. He went over to Reba and gently touched her arm. "I'll be right outside when you're ready, okay?"_

_Reba nodded and watched him leave the room. She took one of his hands in hers and kissed it, then closed her eyes and quietly said a prayer. She ran her hand through his hair, kissed him on the cheek, and whispered, "Goodbye, Jack," before leaving the room. Tears filled her eyes as she walked towards Brock, who opened his arms and wrapped them around her in a strong hug. They stood like that for about a minute, before walking out of the hospital with their arms around each other._

"You really can't blame yourself, Brock," Reba said, looking over at him. "Barbra Jean blames herself too for asking him to come back here."

"But didn't Jack say that he was gonna come back for you anyway?" Brock asked.

"Yeah, which is what I tell her every year, but she just can't get past it," Reba replied. "It seems like she starts every conversation with "It's all my fault"."

Brock shook his head as he thought of his ex-wife. "You know, even if all that stuff between you and me never happened back then, I know for a fact that she and I still would have gotten divorced."

"Well, I'd like to think that you wouldn't have stayed married to her when you were clearly still in love with a certain someone else," Reba said, giving him somewhat of a suspicious look.

"There's no way I would have," Brock said, smiling, as he put an arm around Reba. "Like I said back then, you were it for me. You were the one I always saw standing next to me in my life."

"Well if that's the case, you really should have made yourself more clear back then, Brock," Reba said sarcastically with a smile on her face.

"Are you kidding?!" Brock joked. "You have way too much pride, Red."

"You just like making me do all the work," Reba smiled.

_Shortly after Jack's death, Brock and Barbra Jean's divorce was finalized. Barbra Jean moved to Fisheye Bottom and to everyone's surprise, Brock moved about an hour closer to there to be more near Henry as he was growing up. However, there was one thing missing from his life: Reba. After everything that happened with Jack, they both decided to keep things civil between them and carry out their normal relationship. _

_One day about two years after Jack's death, Brock was back in Houston visiting. He was over Reba's house having dinner with the whole family, and he was helping her clean up. While all the kids were outside playing football, Brock starting piling dishes in the sink. Reba simply stood there, arms folded, studying him for a few moments. She was looking at his face when he looked up at her and did a double take when he saw her staring at him._

"_What?" Brock asked, confused. _

_Reba just smiled._

_He put down the plate he was holding. "What?" he asked again._

"_I love you," she said simply._

_A puzzled look came across Brock's face. "One more time?"_

_She took a step closer to him. "I love you," she repeated. "Always have, and probably always will."_

"_Well it's about time," Brock said as he walked over to the love of his life, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her like there was no tomorrow._

"What do you say we go inside?" Brock asked.

"Okay," Reba agreed, standing up. "Hey, all this talk about Jack and losing him and everything, that doesn't upset you, does it?" she asked.

"Absolutely not," Brock reassured his wife as he stood up as well. "You two really cared about each other and I don't resent that at all."

Reba smiled. "That means a lot," she said. "You know, thinking back, you really were always the one for me. I think it just took a lot of messed up stuff to happen between the two of us for me to realize it."

"Well, I'm just glad you realized it," Brock said. "These past twelve years together have been incredible."

Reba smiled at him. "I love you," she said as she put an arm around his waist.

"I love you too," he responded and they headed inside.

* * *

**I hope you guys liked this ending. I told you I'd give you some closure! I'd love to hear what you all thought of the whole story, so please review and let me know! All the comments and reviews were so motivating to read, and they really kept me writing. Again, hope you enjoyed this story :)**


End file.
